defeat of purpose by Jess Kangas

listen close,
because we’re
three minutes
away from the
messiah coming
and my name
is on her boot
and you’re going to
want to know why.

it all started
harmlessly,
and then fire rippled
my teenage face
like an electric surge
of candy
proportions.

if this doesn’t make sense,
it’s not going to,
and I apologize for
twisting words into foul play
and smoking up a storm on
your mother’s piano last week.

but ten days ago,
i came across a box,
blue, leather, unusual
with diamonds on the corners.
it puzzled me and inside
were all your thoughts-
every one of them.

i know where you went that Monday-
and why you don’t like me
wearing buttoned shirts,
and how you laughed at your father’s
death not knowing what it meant.

listen, I’ve only got
about thirty-two seconds left
and I know you’re going to try
to lather me in calm bubbles
and sweep me up, so I’ll
hold still the night,
but these actions
are too devoted.

no, you and i
will part and perhaps
you’ll live in high peaks
of pearl colored satisfaction
while
i delve into the horrors
of my charred body
cracking over street corners,
mixing with the tar like
how you and i used to
dance.

Jess Kangas is a strawberry siren poet located in Buffalo, NY. Her poetry is rich in sound, structure and secrets.